A 58-year-old man who worked at 15 Wing Moose Jaw is in jail and out of a job after pleading guilty to using his daughter's Facebook pictures to encourage a teen girl to commit sexual acts.Gord Waldner / The StarPhoenix

A 58-year-old man who worked at 15 Wing Moose Jaw is in jail and out of a job after pleading guilty to using his daughter’s Facebook pictures to encourage a teen girl to commit sexual acts.

The former civilian employee pleaded guilty to luring a child under 16 and was sentenced earlier this month at Moose Jaw Provincial Court. To protect the identity of his daughter, the judge imposed a publication ban on the man’s name.

In a written decision issued earlier this month, Judge Margaret Gordon handed down a four-month jail term – two months shorter than the sentence requested by the Crown and a significant departure from the 90-day intermittent sentence requested by the defence. Following the jail term, the man will be on probation for 12 months with conditions intended to limit his access to children, computers and the Internet.

He is also to take personal counselling and sex offender programming as directed.

In handing down the jail sentence, Gordon said the man is mature and “should have known better.”

“However, as with these sorts of activities that are done in private, (he) thought he could get away with it,” Gordon wrote. “After all, he was doing this at work. He had the technological knowhow and he rationalized it that it was never going to turn into a face-to-face meeting. To me this shows that (he) does not understand the nature of the problem.

“In addition, while (he) is regarded by friends, acquaintances and co-workers as a dependable, capable, and pleasant individual, unfortunately or fortunately, he has not showed his dark side to them. And again, that is what is so troublesome about these sorts of offences. It is easy to keep them under wraps. In my view, it is important that these types of offences are being prosecuted today because that brings them out in the open to the public eye. It says to all members of society that this type of conduct is unacceptable. (sic)” Gordon wrote the man’s behaviour also suggests he has “deeper problems” which he has only recently begun to deal with in counselling.

“I see it being a long and difficult road to get to the true underlying issues and for (him) to come to an understanding of how his actions impacted these victims as well as his own daughter and his family,” the judge said.

Court heard the offence occurred in February 2013 while the man was working “in the technology field” at the Moose Jaw Armed Forces base.

Gordon recounted details of the incident, which came to light when police became aware of a sexually explicit conversation they were then able to trace, through an IP address, to the base.

The base’s military commander was contacted, and the unsuspecting supervisor of the 58-year-old, in turn, asked the man to lead an internal investigation into the matter. It was at that point the man went to his commanding officer and confessed.

Court heard the man used his daughter’s Facebook photos in his profile, believing that would be “more acceptable.” Then, on Feb. 13 and 14, he had several online chats with a teen girl, during which he pretended to be 15 years old. The hours-long conversations eventually became sexually explicit and the man ultimately attempted to persuade the girl to touch and have sex with her 12-year-old cousin, who was going to be visiting for the weekend.

In addition to the man losing his job, his benefits and pension were affected, leading to significant financial repercussions. Court heard he still has family support. Gordon noted the man – who had no previous criminal record and is said to be “very remorseful” – suffers from anxiety and sleep issues and has sought professional help.

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